Did Mike Rossi (viral marathon dad) cheat his way into Boston?

Everyone has forgotten about the St Louis girl because she got caught and the detective work is over.

If Rossi tearfully admitted he made one mistake because he just wanted to make everyone proud and blamed the internet bullies as the real villans, I think people would feel sorry for him and then forget about him.

Invisible Man wrote:

Not all of his results are on his Athlinks page. Here he is finishing the Haddonfield Adrenaline 5k on March 21, 2015. You can see him crossing the line right at 22:19 on the race clock. He's wearing a dark blue or black shirt. Is that the Boston Marathon emblem on his shirt?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=8m9s&v=RRFtBK7p2ac

Here is a link to the full results.

http://haddonfieldadrenaline5k.com/results/

In other words, totally in line with his other results. Not Boston material.

Doug Rendall, you seek Doug Rendall. Dartmouth.

Has it been established where the course photographers were located?

If so, you can narrow down where he jumped off and on the course.

If the photos were at miles 4, 12, 22 and he shows up in none, you can surmise that he jumped off between the start and 4 and jumped in after 22.

Then we can look at the course map and determine which spots are logical to get in and off the course.

It may help in finding people who saw him.

My assumption is that he crossed the start and then went back to his car, drove to the last relay point, and ran the rest of the way in. Was there a course photographer after the last relay exchange point?

The best I can tell is the last relay point was between 4 and 6 miles from the finish and the last photographer was 7-8 miles out (the bridge I believe.)

Hello Peppers wrote:

Has it been established where the course photographers were located?

If so, you can narrow down where he jumped off and on the course.

If the photos were at miles 4, 12, 22 and he shows up in none, you can surmise that he jumped off between the start and 4 and jumped in after 22.

Then we can look at the course map and determine which spots are logical to get in and off the course.

It may help in finding people who saw him.

My assumption is that he crossed the start and then went back to his car, drove to the last relay point, and ran the rest of the way in. Was there a course photographer after the last relay exchange point?

Okay, here's a link to the spreadsheet I mentioned:http://imgur.com/gallery/OqkihNI/So, 23 finishers who don't have photos at intermediate stops. 19 of those are due to poor bib placement (carrying in hand, wearing on shorts & secured poorly, worn on back, etc). The only 4 unexplained are Rossi and runners #1754, 2451, and 2184. I bet we could find them in the lost & found photos if we tried (sorry, I've given this enough time for now). That's already been scoured for Rossi's photos w/o any luck. If we found them, Mike would be the only one with a clearly placed bib w/o any intermediate photos.If we wanted to be really obsessive (it's LRC, right?), we could search for all 22 other runners from the spreadsheet in that lost & found - if we found them all, that would demonstrate that Mike was the only one out of >1000 finishers w/o intermediate photos. But again, 19 out of those 22 have poorly placed bibs which likely explain why their photos weren't identified. I've included chip time, sex, age class, and descriptions of each of those runners in the spreadsheet, if anyone wants to use that to start on the Lost & Found.

Something substantive to add wrote:

So there are only 4 people where it's not clear why they don't have photos - Mike Rossi, and runners 1754, 2451, and 2184.

I just spent 20 minutes clicking through a roll and found Bib 2184. She is clearly in the pack in photos 19-1843 and 19-1844. Her leg brace is very unusual, and her shorts and shirt obviously match.

Two left.

IFartInYourGeneralDirection wrote:

Doug Rendall, you seek Doug Rendall. Dartmouth.

THIS! The guy started 2 seconds behind Mike Rossi and finished 2 seconds in front of him. There is no freaking way they have not crossed paths during this run or ran side by side for a substaintial part. Bib#2531.

As a few people have already posted on here doing this. This is the 100% proof he cheated.

Raysism wrote:

I just realized something (sorry if I'm late to this).

When you get to the photo page, you can "Browse Event" and then pick where in a camera roll you want to start. So I just started with Roll 62 and Frame 6121, which is a photo of the first guy on the spreadsheet (Bib 1436), somewhere near the end of the race. So then I started clicking through the roll - and If you do it fast enough, it looks like a little movie of everyone who ran through there. You literally see everyone on the spreadsheet run past that camera...except Rossi.

fasterthanyoudbag wrote:

Absolutely NO proof he cheated. Why don't you do something constructive with your time instead of trying to destroy someone of their accomplishment.

Focus on your on running and goals. You are pathologically obsessed with Mike.

hey Rossi,

the reporters are knocking on your door. go show them your GPS from your qualifier and make them go away.

This is awesome, well done Something Substantive and Numbers Guy.

Is somebody following up on this? I added another tab to Rojo's spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1o6QNphLQ7ZV_sPSCyaFV4Tm1rmOlol_AO5cxF3Lam-Q/edit?pli=1#gid=119642394).

Like before, we can use this spreadsheet to split up the work. Each person can pick one or more bib numbers, and search for them in the lost and found pics. Put your name down first so we don't duplicate any work. Also, it looks like that imgur spreadsheet that Something Substantive linked to will be pretty helpful, because it tells you your person's finishing time and roughly what your person looks like, so you can find them as you scan through the lost and found pictures.

gatorade&vodka wrote:

If Rossi tearfully admitted he made one mistake because he just wanted to make everyone proud and blamed the internet bullies as the real villans, I think people would feel sorry for him and then forget about him.

Yes! Play the "Internet bully" card. He can blame his cheating on Internet bullies AND get some sympathy for it. Brilliant.

"Damn you Internet bullies!! Where are the comment moderators when I'm being bullied for being a True American and pulling myself up by my bootstraps like Abraham Lincoln.." Or something like that.

That would be the next best step and another reason why the story is a perfect metaphor for America in 2015. Shortcuts and messaging is America 2015.

I love how a sketchy guy tries to evade simple attendance rules, gets his 2 mintues of Internet fame, then it absolutely blows up in his face. Love it.

GregTR wrote:

IFartInYourGeneralDirection wrote:

Doug Rendall, you seek Doug Rendall. Dartmouth.

THIS! The guy started 2 seconds behind Mike Rossi and finished 2 seconds in front of him. There is no freaking way they have not crossed paths during this run or ran side by side for a substaintial part. Bib#2531.

http://results.chronotrack.com/event/results/event/event-10268?lc=en

But if I put myself in that guys shoes, the most likely scenario is that he didn't notice passing Mike in the first 400m of the race, as it is so crowded, and just remembers reeling a guy (Mike) in at the end that he noticed in the last mile. I've caught guys in the last mile of a race that I hadn't seen in front of me before then, and take no notice of anyone around me in the first 400m of a race unless I know them.

Would love for him to be able to say he actually saw him come out of the crowd in the last mile, but I would be surprised were that the case.

trollsmasher wrote:

You sound a bit jealous there. Doesn't matter what you believe. He ran a 3:11 and that is a fact.

You ought to spend you time doing something productive instead of trying to tear down others accomplishments.

Oh hai again Mike.

I just found the roll with the starting photos (Roll 4, starting at frame 326), and have two new facts:

-- I can't find anyone who started that race wearing a black hat.

-- There is absolutely no way a 3:11 marathoner would start 30 seconds after the gun in that mess of a race. It was a very narrow start, and a 30 second delay in starting would cost you minutes in the first mile. People were barely at a jog after the first 100 or so people started.

Sweet, I'll paste my info into that tab you set up.

mileage man wrote:

This is awesome, well done Something Substantive and Numbers Guy.

Is somebody following up on this? I added another tab to Rojo's spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1o6QNphLQ7ZV_sPSCyaFV4Tm1rmOlol_AO5cxF3Lam-Q/edit?pli=1#gid=119642394).

Like before, we can use this spreadsheet to split up the work. Each person can pick one or more bib numbers, and search for them in the lost and found pics. Put your name down first so we don't duplicate any work. Also, it looks like that imgur spreadsheet that Something Substantive linked to will be pretty helpful, because it tells you your person's finishing time and roughly what your person looks like, so you can find them as you scan through the lost and found pictures.

Raysism wrote:

I just found the roll with the starting photos (Roll 4, starting at frame 326), and have two new facts:

-- There is absolutely no way a 3:11 marathoner would start 30 seconds after the gun in that mess of a race. It was a very narrow start, and a 30 second delay in starting would cost you minutes in the first mile. People were barely at a jog after the first 100 or so people started.

Actually I just showed there was. His name is Doug Rendall and he started and finished within seconds of Mike Rossi's gun times.

GregTR wrote:

Raysism wrote:

I just found the roll with the starting photos (Roll 4, starting at frame 326), and have two new facts:

-- There is absolutely no way a 3:11 marathoner would start 30 seconds after the gun in that mess of a race. It was a very narrow start, and a 30 second delay in starting would cost you minutes in the first mile. People were barely at a jog after the first 100 or so people started.

Actually I just showed there was. His name is Doug Rendall and he started and finished within seconds of Mike Rossi's gun times.

We know about Rendall. I should have been more clear -- Rendall is easy to track, because you can see him work his way through the crowd in the rolls. There'd be no way we could miss Rossi doing the same thing.

It looks like a special Boston media credential or such around his neck in the photo on the home page of that site. The nerve!